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Things aren't looking good for fourteen-year-old Mehrigul. She is a member of the Uyghur tribe, a group oppressed by the Chinese government. She yearns to be in school, but she's needed on the family farm. The longer she's out of school, the more likely it is that she'll be sent off to a Chinese factory... perhaps never to return. Her only hope is an American who buys one of her decorative baskets for a staggering sum and says she will return in three weeks for more. Mehrigul must brave storms, torn-up hands from working the fields, and her alcoholic father's scorn to get the baskets done. The stakes are high, and time is passing... will Mehrigul's hard work be enough?Read more...

Abstract:

Things aren't looking good for fourteen-year-old Mehrigul. She is a member of the Uyghur tribe, a group oppressed by the Chinese government. She yearns to be in school, but she's needed on the family farm. The longer she's out of school, the more likely it is that she'll be sent off to a Chinese factory... perhaps never to return. Her only hope is an American who buys one of her decorative baskets for a staggering sum and says she will return in three weeks for more. Mehrigul must brave storms, torn-up hands from working the fields, and her alcoholic father's scorn to get the baskets done. The stakes are high, and time is passing... will Mehrigul's hard work be enough?